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Saturday, June 30, 2012

Aquaculture without Frontiers (AwF) is a registered charity whose mission is to promote and support responsible and sustainable aquaculture to alleviate poverty and enhance food security for disadvantaged people. It is an organisation of global volunteer aquaculture professionals who network; who are passionate about aquaculture and its ability to engage, train and feed the disadvantaged; and who create initiatives, projects and programmes. Executive Director Dave Conley speaks to International Aquafeed about AwF and the challenges it faces.

How does AwF define responsible and sustainable aquaculture?

Responsible and sustainable aquaculture is using appropriate technology for the given situation so that it enhances fish production without negative effects or impacts on the resources used. Because AwF teaches basic aquaculture principles for very challenging situations, we encourage using the KIS principle – Keep it Simple.

How does AwF operate on a practical level?

To date, AwF has been a project sponsor, directing donations received to supporting projects reviewed and approved by our Technical Advisory Group. We normally provide project funding in the range of US$ 10,000-15,000 for multi-year projects. We collaborate with other NGOs to leverage their resources when possible. For example, we collaborated with the Marine Biological Lab in Woods Hole, MA to help develop an Aquaculture Learning Center (ALC) in Marigot, Haiti. Novus International provided significant help with this project via AwF.

What do you consider AwF’s greatest achievements or successes?

AwF’s greatest achievement to date has been its ability to survive. What I mean by this is that we have been able to keep going in the face of funding challenges resulting from the global economic meltdown beginning in 2008. Donations have dropped off significantly while project submissions have increased. This has forced us to look at how we operate and try to come up with a better solution.
If anyone was to look at our list of current and completed projects on our website they would find that we have managed to do a lot with very little. Imagine what we could do if we could attract significantly more funding.

What are the biggest challenges aquaculture faces?

In the developed world, it is definitely public education and acceptance as a significant component of the food production industry. The lack of knowledge about aquaculture by the general public is contributing to a dysfunctional regulatory environment in many developed countries. Government regulatory agencies appear to be challenged when it comes to leading or enabling the development of the industry. There are many groups with perspectives and interests that are opposed to the rational growth and development of aquaculture.
In the developing world, it is transferring knowledge and appropriate technology to people so that they can apply it to feeding themselves and their families and communities. Governments of developing world countries do not have the resources to do this directly, but by collaborating with organisations such as AwF, it may be possible to enable the responsible and sustainable development of aquaculture.

How is AwF responding to these challenges?

AwF has been going through a re-think of how we operate. The original vision of Michael New was to use volunteers to train the world’s poor and disadvantaged but in recent years we have gone off course in that we have become a funding organisation rather than a working organisation putting our volunteers directly into the field.
AwF has over 300 volunteers representing a wide range and depth of aquaculture expertise, knowledge and wisdom. To date, we have not been able to utilise this tremendous fund of intellectual capital in any significant manner.
I think we have found a solution – Aquaculture Learning Centers (ALCs). These will be demonstration farms where appropriate aquaculture technologies will be displayed. Courses will be given by our volunteers who will also mentor the local staff. ALCs will sell fish to graduates and provide ongoing tech support and knowledge transfer. The objective is to get the ALCs to become financially self-supporting and run by the local people whose welfare is most improved by the success of the enterprise.
From my observations and discussions with people who work in international development I have learned that when the funding stops the projects die; there is no incentive to continue because the people have not taken ownership of the project. The ALC model is meant to change that. Right from the get go, the people that will benefit from our help will be directly involved in constructing and staffing the ALCs. It will function as a business and we will train them in business skills as well as aquaculture skills. The end goal is to have the ALCs become financially self-sustaining within two to three years.
In the larger picture, we see linking the ALCs via modern technologies so that they can share experiences, lessons learned, and best practices so that they leverage the knowledge they have collectively to do more. Given the advances in mobile wireless communication in developing countries, the ALCs will become hubs for knowledge and technology transfer to surrounding communities. Think of them as broadcasting centres that can also be used by other NGOs to educate people about all sorts of topics from nutrition and food preparation using solar or biogas stoves to water filtration and public hygiene. The possibilities are endless.

What do you think the future of the organisation is?

The future of AwF, as we are now envisioning it, is to become an enabler to teach people in developing countries how to improve their lives using aquaculture technologies but also collaborating with other NGO groups and local governments to provide a suite of complementary skills to significantly improve quality of life and food security.

The dangers of mycotoxins to humans are well documented. In recent years there had been a growing body of research dedicated to studying the effects of mycotoxins on aquafeed. In this International Aquafeed article from International Aquafeed Jan/Feb 2010, Pedro Encarncao of BIOMIN examines recent updates on mycotoxins.

I found this article about creating sterile farmed fish really interesting. According to research conducted in by Nofima in Norway, the advantages of raising sterile fish include better tasting meat and the prevention of escapee fish mixing genes with their wild cousins.

New fish farms often face opposition from local residents. In New Zealand, plans for a kingfish farm in Katikati have reached the Environment Court. The go ahead for the site hinges on whether or not fish are livestock. Read more...

Marine experts praise Loblaw Seafood's purchase efforts. The aims to buy all of its seafood products from sustainable sources by next year. Read more...

The Global Alliance Against Industrial Aquaculture (GAAIA) calls for a ban on farmed salmon in Scotland. The demand comes following a Freedom of Information request made by the organisation which revealed that over 300 seals were killed during salmon farming in Scotland in 2011 and 2012. Read more...

Cooke Aquaculture's hatchery plans are unclear according to the Digby Courrier. Despite gaining $25 million from the Nova Scotia government to finance the expansion, it is unknown where and when the facility will be built. Read more...

Roger Gilbert form Perendale Publishers talks about the BioMarine Conference in London, October 2012. Watch video...

What do you think...

English: A salmon rose, part of a sashimi dinner set. Taken on 24 Jan 2006 by blu3d. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Seafood sales to resume in Fukushima for the first time since March 2011. Tests on two types of octopus and one type of shellfish found no radioactive substances. Read more...

Vietnamese catfish exporters have been warned that redirecting their produce towards the US is an unwise move. Read more...

The Fisheries Council of South Australia has announced a draft management plan and summary report for the Commercial Marine Scalefish Fishery. There will be a public consultation period until September 2012. Read more...

Research: Toxins produced by algae lead to deviant behaviour and changes in brain activity in salmon. Read more...

What do you think...

I'm off on a site visit tomorrow but will be back and ready to sniff out some news on Thursday.

Today I've been reading about the effects of dissolved oxygen on fish growth by Yovita John Mallya, Kingolwira National Fish Farming Centre Fisheries Division, Ministry of Natural Resources and Tourism, Tanazia.

Orignially published in International Aquafeed Jan/Feb, 2012, r ead the full article here.

Cell Aquaculture has signed a deal with the Fisheries Development Authorities, Malaysia to build a 250 tonne high density RAS facility. Read more...

Have a read of the IBISWorld report into fish and seafood aquaculture in the US. The report predicts that after the downturn following the 2010 Deepwater Horizon oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico, fish and aquaculture revenue will slowly improve over the next five years. Read report...

Lobsters left unsold in Vietnam as demand from China falls. Read more...

What do you think...

The Deepwater Horizon oil spill. McNutt headed the Flow Rate Technical Group who determined the extent of the spill. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Friday, June 22, 2012

The proper management of pond water plays an essential role in the success of aquaculture projects.
In this article from International Aquafeed March/April 2012, Elisabeth Mayer, BIOMIN, examines ways to monitor water quality to help ensure healthy fish and shrimp.

Thursday, June 21, 2012

As making fish feed on site has been in the headlines today, I thought I'd share this article from the International Aquafeed archives. It examines the impact of rising feed ingredients prices on aquafeeds and aquaculture production and is taken from a book on the subject (more details in the article).

The FDA has warned Vietnam about tainted seafood exports. The country is the world's biggest exporter of pangasius. Read more...

Tilpaia consumption is on the rise the world over. The Uis tilapia farm, in Namibia, is keeping up with increasing demand, and costs, by producing its own fish feed on-site. Framers are using brine shrimp as an alternative to buying in feed. Read more...

Oh dear, it has been reported that the Canadian Food Inspection Agency is back at a Cooke Aquaculture farm in Nova Scotia after suspected ISA outbreak. Read more...

Wednesday, June 20, 2012

In light of the Sustainable Fisheries Partnership report
into I thought I'd revisit this
article from International Aquafeed Jan/Feb 2012.

With an ever increasing demand for farmed fish, finding
viable alternatives to fishmeal is imperative. This article, by T. H.Bhat, M. H.Balkhi and
Tufail Banday (Sher-e-Kashmir University of Agricultural Sciences
and Technology of Kashmir) examines the use of soybean
products in aquafeeds.

The
world demand for seafood is increasing dramatically year by year,
although an annual upper limit of 100 million tons is set so
as not to exhaust reserves. It is for this reason
that there is a considerable move towards modernising and
intensifying fish farming. T o be economicallyviable, fish farming must be competitive, which
means that feed costs amongst others must be carefully monitored as the
operational cost goes 60 percent for feed alone. Therefore selection
of cheaper and quality ingredients is of paramount importance for
sustainable and economical aquaculture. Identification of suitable
alternate protein sources for inclusion in fish feeds becomes
imperative to counter the scarcity of fishmeal.

Shellfish from Misamis Oriental tested positive of the paralytic
shellfish poison according to the latest bulletin released by the Bureau
of Fisheries and Aquatic Resource, Philippines. Read more...

Living in the UK? Here's you chance to get involved in inshore fisheries management. Read more...

The Sustainable Fisheries Partnership has released its annual overview of fisheries used for fishmeal and fish oil. None of the 28 fisheries studied scored an A rating in all areas but 62.4 percent made the B1 category, meaning the stocks are in good shape. Read more...

There seems to be more news surrounding salmon than any other species. This year, the Aquaculturists has followed the development of the IHN virus outbreak in Canada with interest, IAF magazine has reported on how to keep salmon pink naturally and the debate concerning the effect of farmed fish on their wild cousins continues to go on.

Last week, the Aquaculture Stewardship Council announced it was taking over salmon certification.

The news certainly stirred up strong emotions in the Coastal Alliance for Aquaculture Reform (CAAR) who claim the Aquaculture Stewardship Council certification process is too weak to protect wild salmon. Read more...

In the scientific field, Nofima has released a report into the effects of vacuum on the fish. According the company's results, exposure to low-pressures during vacuuming does not harm the species. Read more...

However, for consumers, salmon is as popular as ever. In fact, salmon stocked in Aldi, UK has won a British Frozen Food award for Retail Product of the Year for 2012. The supermarket's 'Northern Catch® Select' Large Salmon Wellington with a Cheese &
Dill Sauce scooped the top prize. Read more...

Having enjoyed the
support of MSD Animal Health as its only Premium sponsor for some years, the
European Aquaculture Society (EAS) is pleased to announce that SINTEF
Aquaculture and Fisheries will become its second Premium Sponsor from July 1, 2012.

While EAS actively
targets sponsors for its annual Aquaculture Europe event, the Premium Sponsors
show their support of the society ‘as a whole’ – and specifically of its
objectives – with a financial contribution that allows EAS to offer reduced
membership fees for young persons and for those working in relatively low
income countries.

The
President of SINTEF Fisheries and Aquaculture, Karl Almås, (picture) is pleased
to show SINTEF’s support for EAS. “Collaboration and participation in EAS is important to us in SINTEF as
it is an industrial organization with a strong research focus which is vital to
us and our research partners in EU. This sponsorship makes clear our commitment
and we look forward to strengthening our work in EAS through this agreement”,
says Almås.

The EAS President Elect (becoming President
in September), Kjell Maroni is also pleased to have a second Premium Sponsor, especially
one from Norway.“It is very good to have a technology oriented
research institute as SINTEF from Norway on board as a Premium sponsor. EAS
need the contribution from Premium sponsors as an important basis for the
economy in addition to normal members”, he said. “Premium sponsors are also
important to make EAS more known in the aquaculture industry in Europe” he
added.

As Premium sponsors, SINTEF will be
promoted through the EAS web site and its publications, but also at the AQUA
2012 (September 1-5 in Prague) and AE2013 (August 9-12 in Trondheim).

SmartAqua's latest blog post about the importance of water quality in aquaculture. The very mention of water quality tends to put people to sleep but this is a fascinating read. Read more...

American Heartland Fish Products plans to build a processing plant for Asian carp in Illinois. According to a local news report, the plant could create a market for a fish
that has traditionally invaded parts of the Mississippi and Illinois Rivers. Watch video...

AU$100m not enough to compensate for Australian marine reserve networks says the Commonwealth Fisheries Association. The organisation is concerned about the impact the Australian government's plans for sea parks will have on the fishing industry. Read more...

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Our columnists have a keen eye for the most interesting, relevant and lets face it, bizarre aquaculture stories from across the world.

Each weekday we search for top-notch news and package it for your perusal in one neat daily digest.

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